Traditional medicine

A complete emotional map. A complete emotional map of a person

A mind map is a technique for presenting any process or event, thought or idea in a comprehensive, systematized, visual (graphic) form.

Mind-maps (the term can be translated as “intelligence maps”, “mind maps”, “thought maps”, “thinking maps”, “mental maps”, “memory maps” or “mind maps”) - information depicted in graphical form on a large sheet of paper. It reflects the connections (semantic, cause-and-effect, associative, etc.) between the concepts, parts and components of the area under consideration. This is clearer than the usual expression of thoughts in words. in writing. After all, a verbal description generates a lot of unnecessary information and forces our brain to work in a manner unusual for it. As a result, this leads to loss of time, decreased concentration and rapid fatigue.

Although the first examples of creating mind maps can be found in scientific works, created centuries ago, their widespread use began in the second half of the twentieth century thanks to the English psychologist Tony Buzan. Buzan systematized the use of mental maps, developed rules and principles for their design, and put a lot of effort into popularizing and disseminating this technology. Of the 82 books written by Buzan on this topic, the most famous is “Teach Yourself to Think” - it is included in the list of the 1000 greatest books of the millennium.

The effectiveness of mind maps is explained by the fact that thought processes occur in a similar way. The human brain consists of neurons that touch each other through processes called dendrites. Various images stimulate various groups neurons and connections between them. You can think of a mind map as a photograph of the complex and ornate relationships of our thoughts that give our brain the ability to organize and detail objects and phenomena. When using mental maps, we seem to be trying to draw our thinking.

The purpose of creating a thought map is to put things in order in your head, get a holistic picture and find new associations. Tony Buzan believes that mind maps help to better manage thought processes and give greater freedom of thought.

Today, mind maps are compiled by entrepreneurs, teachers, scientists, designers, engineers and people of many other specialties. And this is understandable, because the creation of mind maps helps to approach the solution of any problem more meaningfully, putting it into detail. Moreover, the use of intelligence cards is possible in various fields our life. In the West, among successful people, mind maps have long gained popularity. Here is an example of a billionaire's intelligence map Richard Branson:

Scope of application of intelligence cards

Mind maps can be used to plan your own life

Quite often, in a large amount of information, we do not see the whole picture, and drawing up a plan in the form of a mental map helps to restore a holistic vision of the situation. You can plan projects, starting with organizing a holiday and ending with a project starting your own business. You can make plans for your life, a year, a month, a week, a day, arranging things by priority and touching on all sorts of aspects of life. Budget planning using smart maps helps you prioritize the importance of spending, easily track its implementation and make adjustments.

Mind maps help you make the right decision

IN decision making process, in case of a dilemma - “to go - not to go”, “to buy - not to buy”, “to change jobs - not to change”... mind maps help to approach these issues in a more balanced way:

Mind maps allow you to collect all the necessary information related to solving a problem on one sheet of paper and look at it at a glance.
Mind maps prevent you from losing sight of all the pros and cons of a particular decision.
Mind maps activate associative thinking, which allows you to see important factors, missed in traditional analysis.
Plus, the use of images and colors in mental maps activates intuition, and this can also influence the correctness of decisions made.

Mind mapping will help you prepare for your presentation and convince the audience

How are you preparing for the presentation? A person reads articles and books... makes extracts from them... So as not to get confused in the diversity collected material– it is useful to structure it in the form of mind maps. As the performance progresses, mind maps, by simply crossing out or adding a branch, allow you to shorten or expand the performance. A well-drawn mind map helps you avoid getting confused and losing the main idea, while maintaining the overall picture of your speech.

The advantages of a mind map over a text plan are obvious: ten key words are much easier to remember than ten pages of text; It is almost impossible to knock a speaker armed with a mental map of a presentation out of his thoughts with questions or anything else; a mind map can be presented as a visual example (slides, posters), so listeners will better remember the main idea and will be less distracted when looking around; At the end of the presentation, printed copies of the mind maps can be used as handouts.

It is very beneficial and useful to use mind maps for learning

When taking notes on lectures, writing coursework (abstracts, diplomas, dissertations), analyzing, understanding and memorizing large amounts of information, the use of mental maps is simply necessary. Information presented in the form of familiar notes (a bunch of scribbled sheets of paper, outwardly indistinguishable from each other) leads to large time losses. For recording, and later for searching and reading necessary information it takes a lot of time. But compiling mind maps, in addition to promoting better assimilation and memorization of text, also entails development of creative and creative thinking, being a kind of exercise for the mind. In the previous article “For the body - aerobics, and for the mind - neurobics”, it was already said that habitual and monotonous activities lead to the inability to concentrate on new material, to a decrease in mental abilities and memory deterioration. What is taking notes for a student? Monotonous and boring activity.

I remember when I was writing my thesis, due to the not very good detail of the structure, sometimes there were moments of misunderstanding further actions. Surely people often find themselves in such a dead end when they write texts without first drawing up a plan. A mind map helps you break out of a creative impasse; it is like a skeleton on which the rest of the text is built.

Intelligence map, based on which Tony Buzan wrote a book - “Teach Yourself to Think”:

Mind map is a good tool for increasing the effectiveness of brainstorming

To work in a team, Tony Buzan suggests using collective mind maps. When you need to generate an idea or develop a creative project, make a group decision and model joint project management, or in order to analyze the results of activities, use the method of drawing up collective mind maps.

Individual mental maps become part of collective thought maps, being a graphical embodiment of consensus achieved within the group.

According to Buzan, this method differs from regular brainstorming, when the group leader writes down the key ideas proposed by employees - “ In fact, this greatly interferes with work, because every proposal voiced in front of the team leads to the use of familiar patterns, mediation of the flow of thoughts in the brains of the participants, often moving in the same direction».

Rules for drawing up mental maps

An excerpt from Tony Buzan’s book “Superthinking”, in which the author describes the technology for creating mind maps:

Use emphasis

Associate

Use arrows when you need to show connections between elements of mind maps.
Use colors.
Use information coding.

Strive for clarity in expressing thoughts

Stick to the principle: one keyword per line.
Use block letters.
Post keywords above the corresponding lines.
Make sure that the length of the line is approximately equal to the length of the corresponding keyword.
Connect lines to other lines and make sure that the main branches of the map connect to the central image.
Make the main lines smoother and bolder.
Use lines to delimit blocks of important information.
Make sure your drawings (images) are as clear as possible.
Hold the paper horizontally in front of you, preferably in the landscape position.
Try to place all words horizontally.

P.S. There are a large number of online services for developing mind maps and applications for various platforms on the Internet.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

How many emotions can our face show?

Physical sensations of people in different emotional states are the same. It has already been confirmed that a person’s racial affiliation and ethnic origins do not affect sensations during the period of experiencing emotions. Experts conducted a survey of more than a thousand respondents living in various countries and localities. The respondents spoke about the feelings that arise during periods of various emotional states. Based on the results of the experiment, it was found that for everyone, love causes warmth throughout the body, while negative emotions, on the contrary, are caused by numbness, blocks and tension in a person, and fear and anxiety are felt as constriction in the chest.

This experiment changed people's opinions about human emotions and confirmed many ancient approaches to how a person relates to himself and the world around him. It was concluded that there is an inverse relationship between brain impulses and sensations - it is the human body that gives a signal to the brain on how to recognize the sensations that arise.

Emotions are a complex wave energy structure that, through the receptivity of the human body, suggests ongoing and expected reactions in the auric field to various surrounding events and changes. Only our mind perceives all these responses individually and differently for each person. There is a conditional division of people into emotional and non-emotional. These sensations and reactions are very different from each other. Usually, emotional people consider themselves not emotional and vice versa. Knowing the mechanics of emotionality and such influence, you can greatly adjust your life in various areas of interaction and make decisions for yourself more correctly. But only a specialist can tell you all this based on your individual energy.

Have you ever wondered what sensations in the body cause different emotions? Where in the body is anger or love reflected, for example? How does your body feel when you feel hurt? How does the emotion of disgust respond in the body? Scientists found these questions very interesting and they conducted a study, the purpose of which was to identify areas of the body that are most active at the moment a particular emotion arises.

Heat map of emotions

Under activity in in this case This means any bodily sensations: warmth, tingling, itching and others. Please note that “heat maps of emotions” are based on the subjective feelings of the subjects. Actual temperature measurements showed nothing. Which in general is not surprising, because emotions arose for a very short time.

About a thousand people took part in the experiment. They were shown various stimuli - mainly videos and pictures, which were supposed to evoke certain emotional sensations and feelings in the subjects. After the demonstration of the stimulus, an increase or decrease in activity in different areas bodies.

As a result of the experiment, maps were obtained showing which parts of the body are most active at the moment of experiencing a particular emotion. Subsequently, these maps were called “heat maps of emotions.” This name “stuck” most likely due to the visual similarity. In reality, cold colors, such as black, blue, cyan, mean the least activity, and warm colors: yellow, orange, red - the greatest.

Looking at this map of emotions, the first thing that comes to mind is that the phrase “glows with happiness” is not far from reality! The saying “From love to hate is one step!” also hit the bull's eye. And depression is really an emptiness in the soul... In anger, the hands are as active as possible - perhaps because the object of anger really wants to punch the object in the eye. Amazing, right? It turns out that subconsciously, people, without any experiments, always knew which parts of the body were activated in response to the corresponding emotion. This is exactly the case when our ancestors intuitively knew and, moreover, used this knowledge, and we are only now confirming and realizing all this.

And if you are interested, below is a map of a wave sketch of the manifestation of the energy of emotions; you can compare it with a thermal one.

WHERE AND HOW DO NEGATIVE EMOTIONS MANIFEST?

It is known that any emotion is a complex system of interaction between energy perception and biochemical substances in different organs of the human body. Any emotion is energy, and, according to the law of conservation of energy, it does not disappear anywhere. Therefore, you can suppress the expression of an emotion externally, but you cannot destroy it internally if it is not correct for yourself and others. Its amplitude, of course, subsides over time, but it remains to live in a certain layer deep in a person, being unmanifested, and does not disappear until it is correctly expressed outside. Below is a general diagram of where and how unexpressed and incorrect emotion manifests itself in a person.

For example, when a boss proves to his subordinates that they are stupid and unsuitable for intellectual work, they are humiliated in the body, thanks to the message negative emotions, powerful biochemical changes begin, and with resistance and suppression - even an order of magnitude higher. The brain, assessing the degree of danger, to save offended person in general, it triggers the protective dopamine energy system. Dopamine is the hormone of joy and comfort, and the depletion of its reserves in the near future means severe depression. In this way, a large amount of adrenaline, the oldest and simplest signaling mechanism, is released into the blood and external “protective” satisfaction occurs, which ultimately slowly “devours” the life potential of the humiliated. Usually response leads to the need to prove the opposite or do nothing at all - while neither the first nor the second reaction is considered incorrect. The best thing to do in such a situation, and not only at work, is to be neutral, know yourself and your capabilities and not react to an artificial reset or irritant, although in the modern world this is not easy.

IN various cases people show extreme activity and excitement or fall into prostration, and in another they behave very restrained. Moreover, it is in the second group that adrenaline at this moment exceeds permissible norm seven times. If such a person does not “blow off steam” in time or is not given help, then in two or three weeks he will lose immunity, get sick with some kind of disease, and even worse, with the accumulation of emotional pressure, he can get a heart attack or peptic ulcer.

It so happened that right hemisphere The brain is responsible for negative emotions, and the left one is responsible for positive ones - this is based on the number of neurons controlled (for a left-handed person it’s the other way around). That is, when a person Bad mood, he needs to activate left hemisphere. To do this, it’s better to start some kind of game like chess, you can solve a crossword puzzle, or it’s better to flirt. But traditionally, the left half of the brain is activated with the help of banal alcohol.

Interestingly, together with dopamine, alcohol stimulates other left-hemisphere centers, in particular the center responsible for talkativeness. So alcoholics live strictly according to the textbook of neurophysiology. By the way, the need to talk can be so great that psychologists have more than once noted cases when two drunk people speaking different languages had meaningful conversations for both of them for hours.

What happens to us when we restrain ourselves, limit the expression of feelings and emotions?

Unbeknownst to us, this leads to the following:

There is a loss of vital energy.
Neuroses are formed.
Immunity is depleted
Internal spiritual painful sensations arise.
We do not do what is determined for us.
We prove unnecessary things.
We are protesting inappropriately.
We suffer and always make excuses.
We don’t receive and don’t give ourselves and our loved ones enough love and tenderness, which we simply don’t know how to express correctly.
We get sick and “swallow insults”, instead of fighting back, learning to say “YES” and “NO”.

Blocked energy “circulates” inside our body in search of a way out. The person continues to experience impulses of unexpressed emotions, but fights them. As a result, the body, instead of bringing joy and pleasure, brings pain and suffering, and “earns” psychosomatic diseases.

Emotions, feelings and their derivative, a person’s mood, turn out to be a biochemical reaction of body molecules to an energetic emotional impact. Through research, it was confirmed that “tenderness” in a person lives in the head, and fear in the stomach. By the way, hatred can be “seized” delicious food, and “warm up” love with a bar of chocolate - but these are all reverse digestive compensations that are not advisable to use - they only lead to failure hormonal levels, which leads to excess weight gain.

Perhaps the list in this post seems too abbreviated. It does not contain many well-known emotions and feelings: rage, melancholy, guilt and others. We are now looking at basic emotions. The rest of the emotions are “hidden” - as if “hidden” and follow from the basic ones. Under any “hidden” emotion there is always a basic one. The basic one is always more authentic and has much more energy than any “hidden” one. Therefore, with all the possible variety of feelings and emotions, it is recommended to always identify the basic emotion in the beginning.

We are afraid to show people our true emotions, andIt can be scary even to admit them to yourself...

We approach the mirror. We look carefully at the facial features that have developed over the years. What emotion are they expressing? Raised eyebrows? Surprised or scared? Or maybe shifted? Out of rage? Are the corners of your mouth downturned? In sadness? Or has the smile been frozen on your lips for years? Do the eyes smile then? Or just lips? Or maybe the eyes are wide open? Scared? Are your lips turned outward? Out of disgust? Or tensely drawn in, turning into a thin line? Out of anger? Are your cheeks puffed out? Like a child who is about to cry? Or is your face drawn and your muscles tense? From pain and suffering? Let's take a closer look...Is this the expression on the face of a person who wants to bare his teeth? Or maybe he'll burst into tears? Let's be attentive to ourselves.

In order to maintain their emotional health, every person should make faces at their reflection in the mirror for at least 3 minutes every day!

TRY IT!

An example of a connection diagram made using the English program. Mind map) - a way of depicting the process of general systems thinking using diagrams. Can also be considered a convenient alternative recording technique.

A mind diagram is implemented as a tree diagram that depicts words, ideas, tasks, or other concepts connected by branches extending from a central concept or idea. This technique is based on the principle of “radiant thinking”, which relates to associative thought processes, the starting point or point of application of which is the central object. (Radiant is a point in the celestial sphere from which the visible paths of bodies with identically directed velocities, for example, meteors of the same stream, seem to emanate). It shows endless variety possible associations and therefore, the inexhaustibility of the brain's capabilities. This method of recording allows the connection diagram to grow and expand without limit. Mind diagrams are used to create, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as a tool for learning, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

Sometimes in Russian translations the term can be translated as “mind maps”, “mind maps”, “mind maps”, “memory maps” or “mental maps”. The most adequate translation is “schemes of thinking.”

In some European countries, mind maps are used in teaching children primary school schools.

Applications

taking notes of lectures
taking notes from books
preparing material on a specific topic
creative problem solving
planning and development of projects of varying complexity
making to-do lists
communication
conducting trainings
development of intellectual abilities
solving personal problems

Rules for constructing communication diagrams

The larger the sheet, the better. Minimum - A4. Place horizontally.
In the center is the image of the entire problem/task/field of knowledge.
Thick main branches with labels emanate from the center - they indicate the main sections of the diagram. The main branches further branch into thinner branches
All branches are signed with keywords that make you remember a particular concept
It is advisable to use block letters
It is advisable to use as diverse a visual decoration as possible - shape, color, volume, font, arrows, icons
It is important to develop your own own style in drawing mind diagrams

Description of a variation of the mind diagram method - the omega mapping method

In the left edge in the center of the sheet, draw a circle (square, diamond - to taste) and enter your name there and what we have here and now. At the opposite end we do the same and enter what we want to receive.

Next. From the starting point, we draw arrows like a fan, indicating the courses of action in a given situation - there can be as many of them as you like. Moreover, it is advisable to strain yourself and indicate all possible ones. After that, we again draw circles (squares, diamonds) at the ends of the arrows, and enter into them what will result from applying this or that method of action.

From the obtained consequences we again draw possible options for the course of action and again we obtain consequences placed in the next circles (squares, diamonds).

Ultimately, at least one such chain of actions and consequences should lead to the desired result.

The result is a diagram on which the optimal line of behavior to achieve the goal is easily calculated. Intermediate goals also appear that you can focus on in the process of work. The worst behavior also becomes apparent, which not only will not give desired result, but it will also take a lot of effort and time. We highlight on paper what suits us and concentrate on these moments, not forgetting to throw out the line of behavior that we do not need.

Mind Diagram Management Software

Displaying a circuit diagram in different programs

Software

Free mind diagramming software written in Vym View Your Mind.
XMind for different platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Debian/Ubuntu, Debian/Ubuntu x64. Available in portable version

Web services

Mindomo - software creating mind diagrams using the Internet
- an online service for creating beautiful hand-drawn circuit diagrams, built on SilverLight
MindMeister - Web 2.0 application for creating mind diagrams, supports export to pdf, MindManager 6 (.mmap), as well as to .rtf document or as an image (.jpg, .gif, .png)
Comapping - Web 2.0 mind diagramming application, supports automatic diagram layout and collaborative editing
Mind42 is a simple, no-frills, but very neatly made service with which the user can create mind diagrams.
Text2MindMap - Converts a text list into a mind map that can be saved as a JPEG file.
Ekpenso is an online service for creating mind diagrams that simplifies the publishing process.
Bubbl.us - online service for collaborative creation of mind diagrams
XMind - online service for publishing mind maps

Literature

Tony and Barry Buzan, Super Thinking, ISBN 978-985-15-0017-4

Links

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Mind Maps” are in other dictionaries:

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Means playing cards. The fifty-two cards in the deck symbolize the weeks of the year. Thirteen cards of each suit is thirteen lunar months. The four suits are worlds, elements, cardinal directions, winds, seasons, castes, temple corners, etc. Two... ... Dictionary of symbols

The request for "AI" is redirected here; see also other meanings. Artificial intelligence(AI, English Artificial intelligence, AI) the science and technology of creating intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. AI... ...Wikipedia

A term that appeared in the mid-1980s in sociology when studying the process of collective decision-making. Researchers from NJIT defined collective intelligence as the ability of a group to find solutions to problems that are more effective than... ... Wikipedia

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Mind mapping is a powerful graphical method that provides a universal key to unlocking the potential hidden in the brain.

The author of this technique is the English writer and popularizer of science Tony Buzan.

While still a student, he noticed that traditional methods of memorization and note-taking (in order) were ineffective. They require a lot of time and effort, are boring and monotonous, and do not bring the desired results. This prompted him to seriously study thinking and the processes of memorizing information. He did not discover anything new, he only systematized the knowledge already available in psychology about the laws of thinking.

The most effective and fruitful is non-linear. It begins with the emergence of a central image, idea and spreads throughout different sides, due to the activation of brain neurons. The process of excitation spreads from one nerve cell to another, capturing more and more new parts of the brain, and activating various information stored in memory. Buzan called this thinking radiant thinking (“radiant” is a point in the celestial sphere from which the visible paths of bodies with identically directed velocities, for example, meteorites of the same stream, seem to emanate). This thinking is based on associations (connections that arise between foci of excitation in the cerebral cortex.

The associativity of our thinking is evidence that the process of information processing in our brain has a non-linear form. Arbitrary thoughts never form a coherent logical chain; they seem to spread in different directions from the central thought or image, jumping from one idea to another, “catching” new associations, sometimes completely unexpected. As a result of this, thought often goes far away from the original premise and leads to completely unexpected conclusions. The process of learning to think, as a rule, comes down to attempts to streamline our thinking, to make it consistent and linear.

Remember how we were taught to solve problems in school. As a rule, the solution to a problem was a certain algorithm, that is, a clear sequence of mental actions. The need to organize thinking as a process of sequential operations is also emphasized by logic - the ancient science of the rules of thinking, which arose in the era of antiquity. Any intellectual activity (writing an essay, abstract, course work, articles) must be preceded by a clear plan, the points of which reflect the sequence of presentation of the material. All this is a reflection of the linear form of information organization and, to a certain extent, contradicts the nature of our thinking. Often, drawing up a plan takes more effort than solving the problem itself. It is not for nothing that children (and not only others) do not like this activity. And getting students to draw up a plan before writing their coursework, and not after, can be practically impossible. Not surprising, because it’s difficult to plan something that you haven’t thought about yet.

T. Buzan proves that the desire to build a linear algorithm for solving a problem only interferes with thinking, reduces a person’s intellectual potential and mnemonic abilities. We will not be so categorical; nevertheless, the algorithm method, as a way of solving mental problems, has proven itself to be quite effective. But, if we talk about truly creative thinking, then we must admit that it is subject to other laws, and in it the process of generating associations plays a crucial role.

Radiant thinking allows a person to connect information from completely different areas to solving a problem and avoid such a common phenomenon when thoughts rush around within the same associative space, and a person is not able to look at the problem in a new way, to see a non-standard solution.T. Buzan developed a very interesting and in many respects useful way activating radiant thinking - drawing up mind maps.

A mind map has four significant distinctive features:

1.the object of attention/study is crystallized in the central image;

2. the main themes associated with the object of attention/study diverge from the central image in the form of branches;

3. branches that take the form of smooth lines are designated and explained with key words or images. Secondary ideas are also represented as branches branching off from branches of a higher order; the same is true of tertiary ideas, etc.;

4.branches form a connected nodal system.

Composition exercise mind maps

Basic rules for compiling mind maps

Always use a central image.

Use graphic images as often as possible.

For the centerpiece, use three or more colors.

Add volume to the image more often; and also use raised letters.

Use synesthesia (a combination of all types of emotional and sensory perception).

Vary letter sizes, line thickness, and graphics scale. Strive for optimal placement of elements on the mind map.

Strive to ensure that the distance between the elements of the mind map is appropriate.

Associate

Use arrows when you need to show connections between elements of a mind map.

Use colors.

Use information coding.

Strive for clarity in expressing thoughts

Stick to the principle: one keyword per line.

Use block letters

Place keywords above relevant lines

Make sure that the length of the line is approximately equal to the length of the corresponding keyword.

Connect lines with other lines and make sure that the main branches of the map connect to the central image.

Make the main lines smoother and bolder.

Use lines to delimit blocks of important information.

Make sure that your drawings (images) are extremely clear (to you).

Try to place words horizontally.

Develop your own style.

Maintain a hierarchy of thoughts.

Use a number sequence in your presentation of thoughts (number the branches with numbers depending on their importance).

Add empty lines.

Ask yourself questions.

Complete the map with drawings.

Always remember the limitless associative power of your brain.

Improve what you have achieved

Review your mind map.

Bekhterev S. Fragment from the book “Mind Management: Solving Business Problems Using Mind Maps”
Publishing house "Alpina Publishers"

Tony Buzan remembered Newton and Einstein, who at school were getting grades from two to three, and asked important issues: “Can we learn? Are we using our brains correctly? Having applied his method in practice, the author decided that it can be effectively used in any intellectual activity, and especially in business. After all, what is business if not the ability to quickly assemble different sources and analyze information (about competitors, customer needs, suppliers, the market, prices, trends, forecasts, etc.), make a quick and correct decision based on it, and then ensure its implementation? This is how the book “Use your head” was born. In it, Buzan popularly described the method of mind maps. He based it on the basic principles of work human brain, explained that we use our biological computer called the brain inefficiently, and suggested a way to improve this efficiency.

Mind maps have become successfully used in many areas of intellectual work. With the spread of computers, the first programs for building them began to appear. electronic form, which opened up additional opportunities for corporate applications and solving business problems. Creativity people who used this method began to open up more, which inevitably increased their performance. Mind maps have become the main tool for completing tasks for many knowledge workers, including now in Russia.

Rules for constructing mind maps

It is most convenient to explain the rules for constructing mind maps using... the mind map itself (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1. Rules for constructing mind maps

Let us comment on the presented rules in more detail.

1. The main thing!

1.1. Start from the center. In the center is the most important idea, the purpose of building a mind map. Start with main idea- and you will have new ideas on how to supplement it.

1.2. Read clockwise, starting from the upper right corner. Information is read in a circle, starting from the center of the card and continuing from the upper right corner and then clockwise. This rule is adopted for reading all mind maps. If you specify a different sequence, indicate the reading order with ordinal numbers.

1.3. Use different colors! The colors we choose always have more meaning than they might seem. We perceive color instantly, but it takes time to perceive text. Various colors may be perceived differently and have different meaning V different cultures and at different people. This is discussed in more detail below.

1.4. Always experiment! During his practice, the author has seen many mind maps. And each of these cards had its own unique individual style. Since each person’s thinking is unique, the map as a result of thinking also turns out to be unique and inimitable. Don't be afraid to experiment, try, search and find the best ways to present information that are most suitable for you.

2. Central image

One of the key concepts in creating mind maps, without which it is impossible to create key associations from which the mind map will be built. The central image should be the most striking object for you, because it will be your focus, the main purpose of creating a mind map. To do this, set the task as clearly as possible, use when creating a central image the most “catchy” ones that inspire you in at the moment colors and designs.

3. Design it!

Draw! If you are in doubt whether you should draw or not, then the choice is obvious - draw! The visual image is remembered for for a long time, is perceived with maximum speed, forms huge amount associations. Our brain is designed in such a way that we almost instantly form a visual association for any word. Draw this first association. As a rule, then to perceive information from a mind map, you will not even need to read what is written there - you will just have to look at the pictures, and the necessary information will immediately pop up in your head.

Color it! Each color has its own meaning, and often it is very individual for each person. The meaning of a particular color for an individual depends on factors such as personal preferences, previous experience, and cultural influences. In different cultures, the same color can have completely different meanings. For example, in Russia the color of mourning is considered black, and in Japan it is white. Depending on the meaning attached to color, it can significantly simplify and speed up the perception of information. It takes a moment to understand the prohibitive color of a traffic light. In the same way, you can read information from a mind map if you understand the meanings of the colors used in it. You can come up with your own notations or use the author’s interpretation below.

Use keywords! There should be few of them so that they do not add up to a complete sentence. As you will see below, information presented in the form of keywords visually linked to each other makes the brain work as quickly as possible. When you read only keywords, you have a feeling of incompleteness, which causes many new associations that continue the mind map.

If you are creating a map by hand, use block letters, as handwritten text takes much longer to read than printed text.

Refer all new associations that appear to further branches of the map or write them in comments around map objects (topics), which, when written on paper, are conveniently done on stickers.

Connect your thoughts! The use of connecting branches helps our brain structure information at maximum speed and create a holistic image.

Use no more than 7±2 branches from each object, and better - no more than 5-7, since even a tired person can easily perceive such a map.

Color	Meaning	Speed of perception
Red	The most quickly perceived color. Maximum focus. Informs about dangers, problems that may arise if you do not pay attention to it
Blue	Strict, business color. Sets up for efficient long-term work. Well received by most people
Green	The color of freedom. Relaxing, calming color. Positively perceived by most people. But its meaning strongly depends on the shades (“energetic emerald” of the eyes or “melancholy green” in Soviet-type hospitals)
Yellow	The color of energy, the color of leadership. A very annoying color that you can't help but notice.
Brown	The color of the earth, the warmest color. The color of reliability, strength, stability, confidence
Orange	Very bright, provocative color. The color of enthusiasm, innovation, excitement, energy, dynamics. Excellent attention-grabbing
Blue	The color of tenderness, the color of romance. Great background color. IN English there is no separate word for this color (blue is understood as both blue and cyan). In Russia, this color usually means freedom of movement: to the sea, to the sky, to a dream.
Black	Strict, limiting color. Ideal for writing text, creating borders

Show connections of the main topic using a line, thickening it at the base and gradually narrowing it at the subordinate topic.

If topics from neighboring branches are connected to each other, connect them with arrows.

Use grouping to indicate groups of the same meaning.

Sometimes you will feel that you need to add more, for example, two branches, but you will not be able to formulate their names. In this case, it is recommended to draw branches and leave them empty. At this point, you will have an unfinished action and your brain will become hypermotivated to fill out these branches and come up with the necessary ideas.

Try building your first mind map by completing the first lesson.

When the technology of mind maps was created, convenient personal computers were not yet in mass use, and the first maps were built manually using ordinary paper, colored pencils and felt-tip pens.

The author of this book has more than once met people who generally do not recognize the creation of mind maps using computer programs and build all their maps on paper. And the author himself, although the laptop has long become part of his body, sometimes also gladly rolls up his sleeves, takes large sheets of paper, pencils, markers, stickers, tape and begins to draw.

Because this method has its wonderful advantages (as well as disadvantages).

Drawing mind maps are characterized by a reformulation of Murphy's law: “A mind map always takes up exactly as much space as it is given, and a little more.” The author has more than once been convinced of the validity of this law when sheets of A1 and even A0 format were completely filled out.

Therefore you will need:

clean white sheets, preferably at least A3 format. The A4 format may simply not be enough for the riot of your associations;
colored felt-tip pens, or better yet, colored pencils, as they can be erased with an eraser, so you can make adjustments and see your train of thought. The more colors the better;
eraser;
stickers, preferably different colors and sizes;
scotch. If one sheet of paper is not enough for you, you can attach another one to it.

It is best to place the sheet horizontally. If the sheet is large, you can immediately attach it to the wall with tape.

Below is an example of constructing a “Great summer vacation with the whole family” mind map, where you can see how such an urgent problem was solved.

Alexey Bashkeev, Head of Analytics, Incore Media

After I became acquainted with the mind mapping method at the training, I began to apply it in all areas of my life. Below is an example of a map our family drew to solve this problem. important task What a great summer vacation for the whole family.

First we drew the central image. Then each of us wrote down 10 vacation options on stickers, one for each sticker. After that, we placed them on the map, connected them with each other, and the result shown below was obtained (see Fig. 2).

Surprisingly, all the options received seem quite obvious, but it is easier to make a decision when you see them presented in a clear structure.

We hung this map in the kitchen and over the summer we tried the best of the options listed. Now we have compiled a similar mind map for winter holidays!

Rice. 1.2. Results of the family brainstorming session “Great summer vacation for the whole family?”

As you'll notice, hand-drawn mind maps rely heavily on drawings. This greatly simplifies the memorization and perception of information, since the drawings are remembered for a long time.

Often at trainings we are told: “But we don’t know how to draw!” We have to constantly prove that this is not true. What have you done before in your life: drew a person or wrote the first number? Did you color the sun or write a word? Fortunately, learning to draw is much easier than learning to write. We can draw! It’s just that over time we stop using this great opportunity to record information. Let's remember and learn again!

You will have a visual association for each word almost immediately. Draw exactly this association! Because then, remembering a visual symbol, your consciousness will easily retrieve the word associated with it from the unconscious.

Mind maps have gained popularity in many developed countries. But why does this technology work this way? Why is this way of presenting information so effective? What principles of the human brain is this technology based on? It is based on two principles of the human brain.

Principle one. Left- and right-hemisphere thinking

Mind map technology was originally based on the principle that the right hemisphere perceives information according to different laws than the left. The difference in the functioning of the hemispheres is shown in Fig. 3.

At one time, Tony Buzan rightly noted that most information is presented in the form of numbers and letters, convenient for perception by the left hemisphere (just remember the linear representation of information in Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, Lotus Notes - office applications with which most office employees work) .

Rice. 3. Hemispheres of the brain and the “division” of labor between them 1

The mind mapping method allows you to present information in such a way that it can be perceived by both the left and right hemispheres at the same time.

Thanks to the use of colors, patterns and spatial connections, any information begins to be perceived, analyzed and remembered much faster and more effectively than with its usual linear representation in the form of numbers and letters. Thus, humanity has the opportunity to make maximum use of the huge reserves of the right hemisphere.

Do we use in our ordinary life creativity of the right hemisphere? Yes. Of course yes. And all without exception.

Imagine the following situation. You are trying to explain to your interlocutor something quite complex or information-intensive (the concept of a new project, launching a product on the market, the strategy of a new direction, the structure of a new book or article, the current state of business processes, etc.), and this cannot be done in any way. words, and next to you is a pen and a sheet of paper. What will you do? 100% of those to whom the author asked this question answered unequivocally: “Let’s start drawing.” And often without even imagining what will be drawn in the end, we just start drawing. Why? Because in many situations this step allows you to find it much faster common language and convey the necessary thoughts. For example, such an explanation often results in diagrams like the one shown in Fig. 4.

Or here’s another question: what do you do when you talk on the phone about something unpleasant or difficult topic, and next to you lies the same pen with a sheet of paper? Most answer: “Well, we’re drawing something.” But why? After all, the one with whom we are talking does not see us. The answer is simple. We draw in order to connect to thinking best options response creative zones of the right hemisphere of the brain and thereby involve a larger volume of the cerebral cortex, which will increase the number possible options answers and increase their originality.

How many exact postal addresses can you remember where you have ever been, for example, st. Profsoyuznaya, 33, apt. 147? None of the participants in our trainings could name more than 10 addresses. And how many addresses can you visually remember where you have ever been in order to get there if necessary (for example, here behind the temple turn left, then at the fork to the right and in the courtyard there is a third entrance, a polished black door)? The number of such addresses is impossible to count, and as soon as most people find themselves in a place where they have already been, they will immediately remember how and where to get out of there. This example also shows how the left hemisphere (physical memory of addresses) and the right hemisphere (spatial memory) work.

There are a huge number of examples around us in which the cerebral cortex of our right hemisphere works.

Rice. 4. A typical diagram obtained during spontaneous drawing to explain complex information-intensive issues 1

1. Traffic light

Perhaps this is one of the most bright examples visualization. Do you know why red was chosen as a prohibitive color? Because our brain perceives it faster than any other. And the green color is perceived longer than other colors, which is very important before crossing the road: you will have time to think carefully and look around. That is why we relax when we are in nature among green trees. Green color “slows down” our attention. A modern innovation in traffic lights is the use of special signs indicating that you need to walk or stand.

By the way, imagine if the traffic lights instead of colors had simple inscriptions:

And all these inscriptions would light up in one color, for example blue. How would you navigate? The majority answered this question in order: the top light is on - stop, the bottom light is on - go. You see, even here we engage the faster right hemisphere.

2.Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is the favorite email organizer for many users, including due to its advanced visualization capabilities, which are significantly less in its closest competitors: Lotus Notes, The Bat, Thunderbird, etc.

For example, a company employee only needs a few seconds of viewing the consolidated calendars of consultants to understand who is doing what and what free zones there are for making appointments. It is enough to know that according to the corporate standard for using Outlook orange off-site meetings are coloured, blue are strictly scheduled meetings within the office, and green are budgeted tasks that do not have a strict start and finish. Knowing this, you can look at Fig. 5, very quickly understand that one employee has three off-site meetings scheduled for November 11, and he will only be in the office at 17.00, but at this time he already has an internal meeting scheduled with the sales department. You can also quickly understand that his colleague has two budgeted tasks planned, and he can safely schedule a consultation or training for November 11th.

Rice. 5. Visualization in Outlook 2007 Calendar

Rice. 6. Plain non-rendered Outlook 2007 Calendar

Looking at this consolidated calendar, you can quickly understand that it is unlikely that it will be possible to gather all the consultants together on November 11 and that you need to look for another day for this.

Look at fig. 6. Will you be able to come to the same conclusions with the same speed if you analyze a non-visualized Calendar?

3. Cockpit

Pilots experience a huge information load. In the cockpit there is a huge number of different instruments, the indicators of which must be monitored. Additional stress is caused by the cost of any mistake, because pilots are responsible not only for their own lives.

Correct visualization of the control panel is key: the pilot must quickly analyze all incoming information (Fig. 7).

Please note: modern cockpits do not have this large quantity monotonous sensors, as in older models, using mainly the analytical left hemisphere. In modern cockpits, LCD monitors display color codes for key controls and instruments; electronic display systems and an integrated information signaling system are used to the maximum, which display flight and navigation information on the status of the power plant and general aircraft systems on the displays. Previously, all this had to be imagined using a variety of monotonous dark instruments, as in the figure above (information taken from the website www.ifc.com)!

Rice. 7. Cockpit of the obsolete TU-154 (top) and modern IL-96 (bottom)

4. Map of the general battle

Imagine this picture: at army headquarters, generals stand at a wall on which information about all armies is written only using numbers and letters: coordinates and descriptions (number of units, condition) of tank, air force, infantry, artillery, support units, such the same information about the enemy according to intelligence data, the latest information about allied forces. No map, no spatial arrangement - just numbers of coordinates and letters of description. It's hard to imagine, isn't it?

It is not difficult to guess how valuable every second is in order to have time to analyze all the information, develop a strategy and make a final decision on the method of attack.

It is not surprising that the military uses diagrams, maps, symbols divisions, detachments and armies, our own and others, since ancient times. Otherwise, it would be impossible to process huge regularly received flows of information with coordinates, new information about losses, retreats and attacks, and even more so to quickly coordinate actions with each other (Fig. 8).

Rice. 8. Map of the general battle. Strategy development by army headquarters

Principle two. Associative thinking

Have you ever wondered what the word “consider” means? We often call someone smart, but what does that mean? What is the deep essence of this amazing Russian word?

A smart person is a person who can build in his head correct images based on incoming information, that is, identical to the images of the author of the information, the narrator, etc. (at a lecture, while reading a book, article, letter, conducting business negotiations, etc.). Conversely, we call a person incompetent, to put it mildly (or dull, to put it mildly), if he does not understand information the way we would like, or does not understand it at all (although the problem may be in the inconvenient format of the information itself).

I remember an anecdote about teachers of higher mathematics and experimental physics.

Colleague, how can you be in a good mood after this group? There are only stupid people there!

Really? And in my opinion, they are very capable, even brilliant students. Especially when you stop telling them and start showing them...

Any incoming information must first form an image in our head. Once we understand something, we form an image in our head and remember the information much easier and for a much longer period. Information that has not been converted into images is “empty” information that has no meaning and is easily forgotten (remember cramming at school).

Alexander Romanovich Luria, a famous Soviet psychologist and physiologist, noted that “the basis of verbal memory is always the process of recoding the reported material, associated with the process of abstraction from unimportant details and generalization of the central points of information...”

Rice. 9. How verbal information is perceived1

Natalya Petrovna Bekhtereva, an outstanding Russian scientist, called the process of understanding information schemes: “Schemes can be different... We call a person talented or even brilliant if such a scheme, idea, concept turns out to be correct... when disparate facts fit into a coherent system and complex It turns out that it is possible to present events simply, present them in the form of a diagram, and even predict something based on it.” In order to understand how images are formed in our heads, it is enough to see the features of storing information in our brain. To do this, let's look at an enlarged picture of the structure of our brain (Fig. 10).

As you know, our brain consists of approximately 1,000,000,000,000 cells called neurons. Their number does not increase throughout life, but may decrease under the influence of severe stress, alcohol intoxication, injuries and other unfavorable factors. But if the number of neurons does not increase from the moment a person is born, then where is all the incoming information stored and processed?

Rice. 10. Illustration showing the interconnections of neurons. The drawing is simplified a thousand times and corresponds to a microscopic part of brain tissue

Each neuron is connected to others by a huge number of branch connections that are formed throughout a person’s life. The more intense a person’s information life, the greater the number of such connections between brain cells. This amount changes throughout a person's life. Moreover, the more intense his intellectual life, the more such connections are created, the more developed the person’s brain and, accordingly, the person himself.

All information that is distributed in the brain is associatively transmitted between neurons at a speed electric current, and the greater the number of such connections, the more capable the brain is of perceiving new information.

When we perceive information, reading a book or listening to a lecture, our brain uses all the many neural connections to help us form an image. Once we form an image, we understand the information. It is difficult for us to read a book or perceive someone's story if we cannot quickly build images based on the information we receive. Or we may simply lack enough previous experience and training (that is, the number of connections between neurons) to understand new information. It is extremely difficult to understand something at a seminar on financial management (no matter how talented the teacher is) if you do not know how to count, multiply, divide...

PERCEPTION AND MEMORIZATION THROUGH IMAGERY REPRESENTATIONS

Remember how at school we learned by heart many words, sentences and definitions, without ever understanding their meaning. What is verbal memory and does it exist at all? Here is the definition of verbal memory given by psychologist Luria (to whose work Tony Buzan especially refers): “When receiving verbal information, a person remembers the words least of all, trying to retain the textual impression that has reached him.”

To demonstrate what verbal memory is, try memorizing the following 10 words:

night-forest-house-window-cat-table-pie-ringing-needle-fire.

It's difficult, isn't it? Let's complicate the task. Now try to remember the whole story.

“At night in the forest, a cat climbed into the house through the window, jumped on the table, ate the pie, but broke the plate, which caused a ringing sound. He felt that the fragment stuck into his paw like a needle, and he felt pain in his paw, as if from fire.”

Oddly enough, there were more words, and it became easier to remember them. Why? Because we have translated the language of words into the language of images and impressions, which is more understandable to our brain and much easier to perceive.

Now it becomes clear why we cannot think linearly, especially in unclear situations. Our thoughts “jump” from one to another, and at the next moment in time, completely unexpectedly for us, we are already thinking about something else.

For example, when we think about something, many associations related to this topic appear in our minds. We start thinking about how to spend New Year, and a whole fountain of ideas immediately appears in our heads: “Buy more cognac! Organize more competitions! Think about where to store drunks. How to get everyone to the place? Who to choose as the presenter? How can you keep it all in your head?!” - and we automatically reach for a pen and paper and begin to write everything down in order to somehow structure everything and not lose valuable thoughts.

Principle associative thinking is that our brain, due to its structure, works with information associatively, and not linearly. At the same time, images are created in our heads, thanks to which we understand the information.

Based on this principle, Tony Buzan proposed recording information not linearly, as is customary in most cases, but associatively (radiantly), connecting thoughts with each other in space, rightly suggesting that this form would be the most convenient for perception, since the brain needs will carry out a minimum of work to create an image, that is, understanding the information.

Information presented in the form of mind maps is perceived faster, more efficiently, and is remembered faster and for a longer period, as this corresponds to the natural associative nature of our thinking. It's just the way our brains work.

So, according to the two principles stated above, any information is perceived by us in the form of images that are formed on the basis of the information received. And the more volume of the cerebral cortex we use when perceiving and analyzing information, the faster we can build the desired image, that is, understand the information.

Mind management technologies are built on these features of the brain.

Mind management algorithm

A mind map is one of the best ways to increase the efficiency of intellectual work, that is, the creation of intellectual products. What is an intellectual product?

Intellectual products include writing texts, implementing any projects, training, analysis, goal setting for the quarter, year, life, personal development, solving problems and non-standard tasks, strategic planning, etc. etc. In essence, all knowledge workers are engaged in the creation of intellectual products. What is the most common problem?

During our consulting practice, we have repeatedly observed how the natural laws of intellectual work are violated, when they first do something, come up with ideas while doing it, and after they do it, they exclaim: “But we forgot the most important thing!”

The creation of any intellectual product (writing a book, preparing a presentation, developing a strategy, and even planning and realizing a dream) most effectively occurs in five stages, each of which has its own clear goal, which, most likely, you know at least on an intuitive level. I called these stages the mind management algorithm.

1. Birth of an idea

What time do you usually have brilliant work-related ideas? Most people we ask this question usually answer something like: “In the shower. On leave. During sleep." Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And for some reason the best ideas related to your personal life come at work.

The birth of an idea is perhaps the most mysterious stage. You never know when it will emerge from the depths of the unconscious. When this moment comes, it seems that the brilliant insight will remain with us forever and we will never forget it... But no. As soon as the phone suddenly rings or the dog barks, a painful, painfully familiar thought appears: “Oh, what was this brilliant thing I was thinking about?!” About something bold and new...” And it’s not always possible to remember, right?

Take care of your ideas, remember the basic principle of time management (the principle of materialization) - write it down! Don't foolishly waste brilliant ideas that can change your life. The first advice that Vladimir Mayakovsky gave to aspiring writers was to buy a notebook, always have it with you and write down all observations, which can then form the basis of the plot.

2. Brainstorming - creating chaos for the mind map

So, when the idea is successfully caught, we are faced with the task of developing an intellectual product. For example, write an article on a new topic. What do most people do in this case? Naturally! Take a blank sheet of paper or open Word and start writing. Or rather, try to write. Since you constantly have to stop, look for the right thoughts in the associative chaos and drive away the unnecessary ones (although how useful they would be in the next section!). Here it is, the associative nature of thinking!

It turns out that we are trying to do two jobs at the same time: write a specific part of the text and continue to think about others, which contradicts the associative nature of our thinking and, naturally, reduces the efficiency of work. It is necessary to concentrate on one task, and at the moment when useful thoughts swarm in us, it is necessary to catch them all as quickly as possible, because it is not known when they will appear next time.

The main task at this stage is to conduct a brainstorming session, the purpose of which is to write down all the associative ideas that have arisen related to the intellectual product being created. If you have a chaos of useful and interesting thoughts, you yourself can determine the moment when you need to start organizing them.

3. Mind Map Creation / Analysis

It is impossible to restore order in absolutely empty room, just as it is impossible to create the structure of an intellectual product without having in front of you the chaos of thoughts associated with it. This is proven by the very practical method of limited chaos proposed by Gleb Arkhangelsky in the book “Time Drive”.

At the structuring stage, the main goal is to understand the logic, that is, to form an image of an intellectual product, which is achieved through structuring, for example in the form of a mind map. Do you know the pleasant feeling when you suddenly suddenly understand how to respond to an unpleasant letter you received a few days ago, or when you understand where you want to go on vacation? This happens when the brain has processed the information received and offered you the most suitable solution.

The same thing, only much faster, happens when you structure (best in the form of a mind map) the results of a brainstorming session, for example, on writing an article. At one point, there is an understanding of what this article will be like, that is, its image is formed. You clearly see the structure, you know where to write what and what data and pictures to place, you understand what information the reader will take from the article and how he will generally perceive it.

At the moment of achieving an understanding of the formation of the image of the future intellectual product, you can move on to action.

4. Action

If you have successfully completed the first three stages, achieving the goal of each of them, then the process of implementing your plans will proceed with maximum efficiency. The chaos of thoughts, ordered into a structure, will no longer bother you, and you will be able to concentrate all your attention on achieving your goal. And if another one comes to you necessary thought, missed during the brainstorming stage, then you can easily fit it into your structure. Mind maps allow you to do this with maximum speed.

At the action stage main goal is the implementation of your plans according to the structure you created.

5. Result

The natural consequence of achieving the goals of the first four stages is obtaining results. It doesn’t always meet our expectations at the first stage, but that’s the beauty of smart products: if you follow the natural logic of their creation, that is, the mind management algorithm, the result usually exceeds all expectations.

Let's see how the mind management algorithm was used to solve such a pressing problem for many Russian managers as the restoration of vital resources.

Natalya Sosnovskaya, project manager of one of the large telecommunications companies

The understanding that life resources must be managed and forced to rest properly has, of course, always been there. “You need to rest”, “you look bad” - you can often hear from colleagues and friends. But for some reason, no one tells how to properly restore vital energy, effectively spending the time allotted for rest. The situation became clearer during the time management training, when we came to the topic of managing life resources, and everything turned out to be very simple: for effective recovery energy, you need to force yourself to rest properly, restoring physical, emotional and intellectual strength. The regularity of recovery should occur in accordance with the rhythms of a person’s life - daily, weekly and annually. Moreover, if you do not recuperate effectively today, you can greatly lose in your work efficiency tomorrow. The same is true for weekly and annual holidays. It would seem that everything is clear, but there is no answer to the question: what exactly needs to be done to restore your strength and acquire new ones? There is an idea of the problem. There is motivation to solve it. There is no solution.

And here came the answer from the business coach: “You should come up with activities that restore your physical, emotional and intellectual resources for yourself. What works for one person may not work for another.”

A brainstorming session was conducted to identify such activities. The group was divided into three subgroups, each of which had to find maximum quantity ways to restore vital resources daily, weekly and annually.

Each participant was given 10 stickers, on each of which they had to write one way to restore vital resources. After everyone completed the task, it was possible to structure the ideas received and analyze the information.

Taking sheets of A1 format, the participants in their subgroups began to combine the thoughts they had received. A sticker with an idea was attached to a similar area if it was already marked on a sheet of flipchart, and if it was not, then a new area was created (Fig. 11).

We saw before us many different ways to restore resources every year, from which each one chose the one that suited him.

After we have seen possible ways restoration of vital resources and realized that this too can and should be planned, all that remains is to proceed to the most difficult thing - to force yourself to do something.

Thanks to the fact that the bright mind maps constantly attract attention, I had to regularly ask myself the question “What am I doing with what is written there?” And the more often I asked myself this question, the more often I forced myself to act! And little by little the result began to appear...

Rice. 11. Results of grouping the results of the brainstorming session “Annual restoration of vital resources”

As soon as I began to consciously plan the restoration of my vital resources, I noticed an interesting feature: my body allocates much more energy to complete the tasks at hand if I know that they will be followed by a guaranteed, pre-planned restoration of energy. And the more interesting the vacation is planned, the more energy is released, the more tasks can be completed!

Rice. 12. Mind map for daily resource recovery

Definition of mind management

So our intellectual activity is subject to the following clear operating principles.

We cannot operate with more than 7±2 objects of information at the same time.
Any thought can be immediately lost and supplanted by another, not always more important and priority thought.
We underutilize our brain's ability to perceive grouped and related information that contains semantic colors, pictures, patterns, and typical connections.
Information is perceived the better, the larger the volume of the cerebral cortex is connected to its perception.
Our brain thinks associatively, building connections of thoughts and a logical structure from the information received (based on our and only our logic or experience), after which we form an understanding of the information, that is, an image appears.
In order to quickly achieve the result of a planned intellectual product, you must first collect all your thoughts, structure them in order to understand what exactly needs to be done to achieve the result.

The ability to properly structure information is becoming a necessary skill in the modern world, since the average office employee now receives 90% of information in electronic form, the amount of which doubles every few years.

And since the majority of electronic information is received and processed through such common office programs as Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point, Lotus Notes, etc., which primarily involve the perception of the left (analytical) hemisphere, then for most modern office workers The picture shown in Fig. is typical. 13.

Rice. 13. Linear information flows attacking an office employee

In the absence of the necessary structuring skills, information received electronically is one of the main time sinks, and the role of the modern employee’s ability to quickly process electronic information, analyze it and make decisions based on it is one of the keys to increasing the efficiency of its work.

You can acquire such skills and learn to use modern technologies for using the enormous resources of our brain with the help of discoveries in the field of mind management (Fig. 14).

Mind management is a technology for presenting information flows in a form that requires minimal time and psychophysiological resources for search, analysis and understanding

Rice. 14. Mind management. Information flow management

At one of the trainings in a consulting company, at the beginning of the financial crisis, a very current problem— how to reduce costs during a crisis?

During a 10-minute brainstorming session and subsequent structuring of the ideas received, a visual mind map with a lot of interesting workable options was obtained (Fig. 15).

We analyzed each of the received options for adequacy, canceling some, accepting others and planning the next actions for the third. According to the client's feedback, after two months, with the help of specific actions based on the created mind map, they managed to reduce costs by more than 20% - here is the result.

A frighteningly large number of ideas pop into our heads when we begin to think about such large-scale tasks and problems as “cost reduction.” If you grab the first ideas you come across and start taking action, you are unlikely to achieve the desired result. But if you strictly follow the stages of the mind management algorithm and form an image of the problem, the result will not be long in coming!